Blog About The Congo Rape Epidemic

Yesterday was the day to blog about the Congo rape epidemic. As Sunday is my day off from blogging, I missed it — but as I always say when I come in late to these things (a specialty of mine), it’s better late than never, and it’s not too late for you to participate either.

I was unfortunately not able to watch the documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, since I don’t have HBO, and I hope that it will be soon available through another outlets for those of us who don’t have access. But I’m happy that it has been made and that it has inspired bloggers to engage on this difficult topic.

It’s human nature to want to ask “who is responsible?” And the obvious answer is “the rapists.” This is absolutely true; of course they are responsible. But this type of epidemic does not materialize from nothingness. When rape is allowed to exist this rampantly and for so long, when weapons and funding do not appear out of thin air, when the world’s richest and most powerful nations turn away or ask simply and disinterestedly “what can we do?”, we must hold others accountable. And as Anxious Black Woman notes, among them are the Corporate Rapists, those who benefit financially from the conflict through their pillaging of the land’s natural resources. She prints a partial list of those corporations that absolutely must be disseminated as far and wide as we can manage:

An overwhelming amount of tantalum is used in electronic products, from iPods to cell phones, to laptop computers to Sony Playstations. I also located information that the following companies do business with the above-mentioned corporations:

Contact these businesses and let them know how you feel about them continuing to support and profit from the conflict in the Congo. Most of you have bought these companies’ products or used their services. For more info about the effort to divest from companies that profit from the conflict in the Congo go here.

Ilyka at Off Our Pedestals challenges us by asking whether or not white feminists will be willing to stand up and participate in this fight. Will we print this information on our blogs? Will we take the far more important, more time-consuming and more-difficult step of actually writing letters? Will we continue to pay attention for more than the next few days and take suggested further actions? Will we respect the right of women of color who have already been working on this issue to continue taking the lead, to work with them and under their leadership rather than working “for” them as if it’s some sort of favor? Will we continue to link and give credit where credit is due? Will we work on this issue because it is the right thing to do, because it has to be done, and not for our own egos, to alleviate our guilt, to make ourselves look good? Will we listen?

I do not know. Recent history makes me skeptical. I do know that we can; I hope that we will.

This is what we’re talking about(trigger warning): Women being raped in public. Women being raped in front of their husbands. Women being raped next to their dead husbands’ bodies. Women being raped in front of their children. Women being abducted and raped for days on end. Women having their legs broken so that they cannot escape during rape. Women being stabbed and otherwise mutilated during rape. Women becoming impregnated with the children of their rapists. Pregnant women being raped. Very small girls being raped. Very small boys being raped. Women and children being raped and then murdered. Almost all of these rapes will be gang rapes. Women who are raped will often become ostracized from their communities. Women who give birth to their one of their rapist’s children (in a country where the idea of a safe abortion laughable) may be welcomed back to communities, but only if they leave the child behind.

Why do we (those of us in the more privileged Western world) have such trouble caring? Is it because suffering of this magnitude is so difficult and painful to comprehend? Is it because we feel that each of us is only one person, that we are helpless in the face of this epidemic? Is it because this is happening in Africa? Because we’re talking about women? Because we’re talking about black women? And when we do care, when our media actually does respond, is it simply for the opportunity to vilify and dehumanize black men? When we do care, do we really do anything more than lament the tragedy and the unjustness for a few moments, anything more than throw a few dollar bills their way?

These are the questions we need to be asking, not only of our culture but of ourselves.

Black Women Vote! has a great post about how these types of atrocities begin, and there is an important conversation taking place in the comments. Anxious Black Woman has an excellent post about global rape culture. Elle, phd shares her thoughts about The Greatest Silence documentary. KitKat has more on naming names and additional information about some of the companies/industries in question. Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo is an excellent blog precisely about what it seems.

I have been to Kenya and worked with Congolese refugees. There is sadness in their eyes that runs deep as the ocean. It was their spirits that moved my heart. Since the organization I was working with gave these women a chance to make money. I was able to see hope in their faces. Even with all the atrocities caused by the rapes, their are people that are out their working to provide a life for these women.

Hi there!! I was just googling sexual violence in the Congo and came across your blog. I’m SO GLAD to see that people are responding to this!

I am actually about to go volunteer with Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Congo, to help heal/ treat survivors. I was wondering if you would mind posting my website? Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get grants since I am no longer a student, so I am launching a personal fundraising campaign. My website is http://www.adoptavolunteer.com

Anything you could do to help me publicize and get the word out would be awesome!

Meta

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